Brennan to Trump: ‘Clean up your act’ and ‘try to act presidential’

Former CIA director John Brennan criticized President Donald Trump in a tweet on Thursday for his incendiary rhetoric and comments encouraging physical violence. | Alex Wong/Getty Images

Former CIA Director John Brennan delivered a sharp rebuke to President Donald Trump to clean up his act and “try to act presidential” after Trump lashed out again at media outlets on Thursday, only a day after authorities discovered a spate of suspicious packages delivered to prominent political figures.

“Stop blaming others. Look in the mirror. Your inflammatory rhetoric, insults, lies, & encouragement of physical violence are disgraceful. Clean up your act…. try to act Presidential. The American people deserve much better. BTW, your critics will not be intimidated into silence,” he wrote on Twitter.

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Brennan’s admonition was in response to a tweet from the president that blamed the media for “inaccurate reporting” and becoming so “bad and hateful that it is beyond description.” He criticized the president for his incendiary rhetoric and comments encouraging physical violence. Trump has regularly lambasted the press as the “enemy of the people.”

Trump, who had called for unity on Wednesday in a speech with first lady Melania Trump, drew attention at a rally later that evening to his subdued tone and his efforts “to be nice.”

Stop blaming others. Look in the mirror. Your inflammatory rhetoric, insults, lies, & encouragement of physical violence are disgraceful. Clean up your act….try to act Presidential. The American people deserve much better. BTW, your critics will not be intimidated into silence. https://t.co/cS5qNiuU7o

“We want all sides to come together in peace and harmony,” Trump said. “Those engaged in the political arena must stop treating political opponents as being morally defective — have to do that. The language of moral condemnation and destructive routine, these are arguments and disagreements that have to stop. No one should carelessly compare political opponents to historical villains — which is done often, it is done all the time, it’s gotta stop. We should not mob people in public spaces or destroy public property.”

Investigators have not released any information on motives related to the incidents. So far, there have been ten suspicious packages sent to regular targets of the president’s inflammatory rhetoric.

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